


Invisible

by bexcj



Category: Emmerdale, robron
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Ghosts, Imaginary Friends, M/M, Self-Harm, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 06:19:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5080957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexcj/pseuds/bexcj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Supernatural AU:</b> When a young Aaron Livesy moves into the newly refurbished Woolpack with his mum, he makes an unlikely friendship with Robert, who lives in his bedroom and claims to be his imaginary friend. As Aaron grows older and faces a series of challenges in his life, Robert is the one he turns to. But what happens to their journey when they become too close?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Journey

**Author's Note:**

> Happy (early) Halloween!! 
> 
> I absolutely love supernatural AUs with all my heart and so I just had to contribute by creating this. Beware of angst.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS - PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF:  
> \- Graphic Self-Harm description  
> \- Suicide  
> \- Fire
> 
> I really hope you enjoy it - thank you to everyone who leaves kudos & comments & generally takes the time to read :D

_Toxic smoke and intense orange flames fill every room in the house. The flames lick up the walls and onto the ceiling, enclosing every doorway to prevent access outside as the whole building begins to break down into dust and rubble. Every sentimental possession is destroyed by the uncontrollable fire in a matter of minutes, leaving only a memory of the Sugden home._

_Diane stands outside the scene with blackness smeared across her face and clothes after escaping the building, sobbing her heart out as she watches her household dissolve into nothing. She’s hanging onto Victoria, who’s crying out to the firemen to stop the fire quickly before anything happens to him. Andy’s coughing and spluttering, newly free from the blaze and overcome with shock._

_“My brother’s in there!” Victoria screams, staring up at the bedroom where he’s trapped inside. “Please get him out, please,” She wails, falling into Diane’s chest._

_Suddenly there’s a loud explosion as fire blasts out of the windows, shattering the glass and causing it to fall to the ground next to them with a crash. The front door flies off it’s hinges and the building threatens to collapse, it’s structure weakened by the blaze. Everything inside will have perished by now, it's inevitable._

_Victoria screams then, falling from Diane’s grasp to the concrete floor beneath her as the tears stream down her cheeks. “He’s dead! He has to be,” She can hardly breathe from how much she’s crying, the image of her older brother vivid in her mind as she thinks about how she’ll never see him again.  
_

* * *

 

**\- Age 14 -**

  
“I’m telling you, you’re gonna love this place. It’s a pub for crying out loud, you can have all the booze you want.. when you’re eighteen, obviously.”

Aaron huffs out a laugh as he places the last remaining cardboard box filled with their possessions onto the floor of their new living room. They can finally have a fresh start in the Woolpack, maybe try and rekindle their messed up relationship a little bit now that he’s fourteen and she’s finally taking an interest. Maybe they can try and build a real bond in this house.

Chas wipes the dust from the palms of her hands onto her jeans before turning to her son, smiling excitedly. “Well go on then.” She says eagerly.

He looks around the room before turning back to her, perplexed. “What?”

She groans impatiently. “Pick your new room out! Or shall I pick mine first and leave you with a box to kip in?” He shakes his head quickly before running up the stairs, opening the first door on the left and stepping inside to take a look.

It’s fairly small, but something about it feels cosy as soon as he’s inside. He looks around at the walls, his brows knitting as he inspects them carefully, tracing his fingers along the paper. It seems as if they’ve been smeared with soot or another black substance. He pokes his lower lip out in astonishment. he knows this place was refurbished a few years back but he hasn’t heard about there being a fire or anything. He shrugs, he’s not really that interested anyway. He throws his phone onto the bed and turns around, opening the wardrobe doors to look at how much space they have, hopefully enough for all of his tracksuits. Just as he’s observing the size, he’s startled by an unexpected voice behind him.

“These have changed.”

Aaron almost falls into the wardrobe as he turns around, scared out of his wits at the sudden presence of the stranger behind him. It’s a man, probably in his mid twenties with blond hair which looks slightly dirty, similar to the walls of the room. Aaron takes a deep breath. How can he have a burglar when he’s only just moved in?

“What do you want?” He asks quickly, holding his hand out warily to make sure the man doesn’t move anywhere near him. The burglar tilts his head, amused at Aaron’s panicked expression. “To have a look at this?” He replies innocently, holding the phone up.

Aaron shrugs, nodding his head hesitantly to allow the man to have a look. He observes the device seemingly completely intrigued, as if he’s never seen one before. “These are amazing.” He says, trying to figure out how to work it. Aaron laughs, walking slowly over to where the man is. If he was going to kill him he would’ve done it by now, he assumes.

“Here,” He says, holding his hand out. “I’ll unlock it for you, as long as you don’t go through my photos.”

The man suddenly breaks out into a grin, passing the phone over. When their hands brush, Aaron inadvertently flinches his away because the man's skin is absolutely freezing cold, like he’s been living in a fridge or the arctic. Aaron takes the phone and presses the button on the top, sliding his finger along the screen and unlocking the device with ease. The man looks on with utter fascination.

“Since when did they have touch screen ones?” He asks, running his index finger across the entire area of the screen causing all of Aaron’s apps to jumble into a random order which pisses the boy off. He asks rudely, “Have you been living under a rock or something?”

“Yeah, something like that.” The man says, handing the phone back before falling onto his back on Aaron’s new double bed, making himself comfortable as if he has the intention of staying put. Aaron stares at him, miffed.

“Who are you anyway? What are you doing in my house?” He asks, tapping his foot against the wooden floor impatiently. The man sits up, offended by the question.

“I’m Robert and I’ll think you’ll find this is my house. I’ve lived here for ages.”

Aaron scoffs, staring up at the ceiling and having to double-take when he swears he can see burnt streaks. 

He looks back to the man. Robert. “Well no one’s lived in this house for at least twelve years so you’re obviously deluded.”

Robert shrugs. “I have.”

“Not unless you’re imaginary.” Aaron says jokingly, laughing to himself at the ludicrous thought of it. Robert doesn’t laugh, and when Aaron looks up at him to ask why he has no sense of humour, the man is completely straight-faced, almost a worried expression casting over him.

Aaron realises then. “Oh be serious…I’m fourteen, I’m too old to have an imaginary friend.”

Robert huffs out a laugh, shaking his head. “Yeah, well, blame your head. You’re stuck with me so you might as well get used to it. What’s your name?“ He asks, holding his hand out for Aaron to shake.

"Aaron.” He tells him, taking Robert’s hand and shivering when they touch. Robert’s frosty skin shoots ice up Aaron’s veins, chilling him to the core so much that he has to pull his hand away quickly. “Sorry,” Robert says, blushing. “You’ll get used to it. Probably.”

-

“So how old are you then, Robert?” Aaron asks, absent-mindedly flicking through a magazine on cars and motorbikes. He’s sorted his room out now, put everything into place and completely made it his own with the help of Robert. Aaron doesn’t know how an imaginary friend can physically touch and move things, or how Aaron can feel his skin as if it’s really there, but he just suspects that he has a very vivid imagination. Extremely vivid.

“Twenty-eight.” Rob replies, inspecting some of Aaron’s possessions. He picks out a Rubik's cube from one of the nearly empty cardboard boxes and begins to maneuver it, fascinated with it's complex structure.

“You’re old. You’re double my age.” Aaron works out, screwing his face up in disgust. “Why would I imagine my friend to be as old as that?”

Robert laughs, holding the cube in the palm of his head when he gives up on trying to get the colours to match. “I don’t know, do I? You’re the one imagining it.”

“Well, can I imagine you to be a bit younger then?”

“Nope. You’ve imagined it now. Like I said, you’re stuck with me.”

The pair are startled by the sound of Chas’ voice from downstairs as she calls her son down for tea. Aaron slides off the bed and heads for the door, but he’s stopped by Robert’s low voice before he can step outside the room. “Aaron, you haven’t told your mum about me, have you?”

Aaron shakes his head. He couldn’t tell her, she’d only ridicule him for not being able to make any friends so having to resort to creating ones of his own. “You can’t tell anyone, alright? You promise?” Robert looks so serious when he asks which intrigues Aaron slightly, though he doesn’t have time to question it otherwise his tea will go cold. “Alright.” He shrugs, closing the door behind him on his way out. 

As he’s eating dinner in front of the TV with his mother, she makes a point of creating small talk in an attempt to try and make them resemble a normal, loving mother and son. “So, you enjoying it here then? It’s better than living with your dad, isn’t it?”

“It’s alright.” Aaron mutters, taking a mouthful of his food whilst staring at the television screen.

“I might be going crazy,” Chas starts, placing her cutlery down onto her plate to indicate she’s about to state something relatively serious. “But sometimes I swear I can hear you talking to someone up there.”

Aaron swallows, averting his eyes towards the other side of the room in order to avoid looking at her. “I’m, uh, just on the phone. I made a friend and I’ve been talking to her, that’s all.”

Chas’ eyes light up as she grows excited at the news. “Ooh, a her, eh? What’s her name? Is she pretty?”

“I’m not talking about this with you.” He groans, throwing his cutlery down and leaping from his chair towards the stairs. She looks over her shoulder and smiles at him teasingly. “Going to talk to her, are you?”

“Shut up.”

* * *

 

**\- Age 17 -**  


Aaron can’t get up the stairs fast enough. He’s had enough of his mum, Carl and the bullshit they bring with them wherever they go. He’s only still living with her because he has no where else to go but he'd rather live _anywhere_ else. It makes him feel ill to be anywhere near the presence of the pair of them. He can’t believe she’d do this to Paddy, even if the man is a pillock he doesn’t deserve to be messed around by her like he has. When Aaron gets into his bedroom he slams the door shut with a large amount of force, subconsciously rousing his imaginary friend from the depths of his brain onto the bed, a concerned look on his face at the outburst. "What’s up?”

“My mum, the stupid cow. That's too nice of a word to use to describe her, actually.” He growls, nudging Rob gently so he moves over on the bed to let Aaron sit down next to him. “What’s she done now?”

“Cheated on Paddy with that stupid prat, Carl.” He tells him, bringing a hand to his face and rubbing his eyes, tired from all the anger built up inside him over the past few days since this all started.

“You can’t give up on her.” Robert says, pissing Aaron off even more. “Why not? She’s given up on me how many times?" 

Robert grows silent then, keeping his comments to himself which is probably for the best whilst Aaron’s in this state. Rob doesn’t know Paddy or Carl, and he only knows Chas from what he’s heard from Aaron. He’s seen her once when she came into Aaron’s room after they had an argument, but Robert had been invisible to her (obviously). He’d watched her shout drunkenly at her son, slurring insults at him before stumbling into her own bedroom. Aaron was fifteen and he’d cried that whole night whilst Robert sat on the floor next to the bed for the entire duration to act as a comfort. It'd killed him to see Aaron like that, and it kills him to see a resemblance to that night return right now.

“Paddy’s been better to me in the past couple of months than she’s been her entire life, what does that make her, eh?” Rob just shrugs, pulling Aaron into his chest as the boy huffs, irritated. It probably looks odd, a twenty-eight year old comforting a seventeen year old like this, but no one’s here to see them so it doesn’t really matter.

-

Aaron bursts into the bedroom crying one Winter day without even closing the door behind him, falling onto the bed with his face in his forearms and sobbing it out onto the mattress. Robert appears standing above him, sick with worry. “What’s happened?” He asks softly, kneeling on the floor and placing a hand on Aaron’s back. The younger man sniffs before looking up at him, his eyes noticeably red and swollen. He’s clearly been crying a while.

“Aaron,” Rob says, stroking down his lower back. “What happened?” He asks again. 

“I…” He tries, but Aaron can’t get it out because he can’t admit it to himself. He takes a deep breath before trying again. “I tried to kiss Adam.” 

Robert’s eyes widen. He didn’t expect that. Aaron would always go on at him about how he fancied girls, how he’d tried it on with Adam’s sister Holly, even blackmailed her at one point in order to get her to sleep with him, so this is a real shock. Rob doesn’t show that though, instead just nods understandingly, taking in the information. “What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong is I’m not into blokes!” Aaron cries out, sitting up in the bed and wiping his nose with the sleeve of his jumper. “I can’t be…can I?”

Robert gets up from his knees and sits next to him, staring him dead in the eyes with as much seriousness as he can muster. “If you are then you are, there’s nothing you can do about it.” 

Aaron stares at him, wide-eyed and completely terrified. “I can never tell anyone. No one will accept it, Robert. Not ever.” 

Sadness casts over Robert suddenly and he stares into the distance as if he’s hit by a wave of thought. He’s white as a sheet, terrified himself, though Aaron doesn’t know why. “Robert,” He says, snapping the older man out of it a little bit. 

“Sorry.” He mutters, scratching at his head. “If it’s any consolation, I accept it. I know how you feel…imaginary friend, and all.” 

-

Just over three months later, Robert catches Aaron in his arms when the boy falls through the bedroom door, crying his heart out with a layer of blood covering his knuckles. “I beat Paddy up, Rob.” He croaks out through the sobs, clinging to the older man for dear life. Robert just holds him, swaying back and forth, unsure of what to say. 

“I told him I was gay.” Aaron announces. It’s a shock, though it’s progress and Rob’s proud of him for being able to at least admit it to someone with a real heartbeat.

“Knew you could.” Rob whispers, pulling out of their embrace to look at the younger man in the eyes. When Aaron stares at him his expression suddenly changes, his face falling straight as if he’s just had a realisation. Robert knits his brows, wondering what he’s looking like that for, but then Aaron does something which stuns both of them.

He leans forward and presses his mouth to Robert’s, the cold of the older man’s lips sending frozen sparks down every nerve in Aaron’s body. Robert’s hands immediately fly up to Aaron’s cheeks and slowly run their way down to his waist, where he pulls at his belt in order to remove it.

It’s the first time Aaron ever has sex with a man, and it’s slightly weird that it’s with a figment of his imagination so he doesn’t really know if he can count it, but for some reason he does, and for some reason he loves the feeling of Robert’s cold skin on his contrasting warmth. He loves how Robert’s lips feel, how his tongue moves inside his mouth, how his cock feels inside his ass. It all feels so _right_. 

Aaron falls asleep with his head on Robert’s chest, and as he begins to fade away from the world into slumber, he wonders why the figment of his imagination doesn’t own a heartbeat. He doesn’t get the chance to ask.

The next morning he wakes up alone, unsure why Robert’s suddenly disappeared considering the older man is always there. Aaron tries conjuring him using his brain, wishing him there and subconsciously asking him to appear, but no matter how hard he tries, Robert just doesn't show. Aaron swallows, growing worried but convincing himself he’ll be back soon, like always.

* * *

 

**\- Age 19 -**  


He’s waiting for Jackson to text. He’s always late when it comes to this sort of thing, probably too busy dolling himself up so he looks good for their evening together. He doesn’t need to, Aaron thinks. His clothes will only end up on the bedroom floor anyway.

Whilst he's waiting, Aaron takes a moment to listen to the eerie silence of his room. His mind wanders to his imaginary friend, who he hasn’t seen ever since he disappeared after their encounter. Aaron was bitter for a long time after he left, and to make it worse, it was at the same time as Paddy telling his mum about his sexuality. He’d tried to kill himself and he’d self harmed, but Robert didn’t appear to comfort him like he usually would have. It hurt for a long time, but Aaron learned to live with the fact that his mind had given up on Robert, and then he met Jackson which acted as a completely new chapter, throwing the memory of his imaginary friend into the depths of the past.

Jackson arrives at the house and his clothes _are,_ in fact, off within ten minutes of him being there. They have sex twice and talk for a while, and Aaron loves how casual he can be with him. It reminds him of how he used to relax around Robert, how they’d talk for hours and hours about everything and nothing. Rob would tell him stories about his life, which obviously can’t have been real since he’s imaginary, but they seemed so vivid and sincere as he described them, and they’d always help Aaron to drift off to sleep when he was cursed with insomnia.

“See you later.” Jackson says, placing a chaste kiss to Aaron’s lips.

“I’ll text you.” Aaron calls out to him as he disappears down the stairs, biting his lip and smirking. He shuts the door and turns back around, jumping when he finds himself face to face with a figure that hasn’t been around in two years.

“He seems nice.” Robert says quietly, a pained expression on his face. Aaron just stares at him, a mixture of emotion filling his airways as they take the sight of each other in. 

“He is.” Aaron confirms, not tearing his eyes away from Robert for a second. He wants to savour every moment he gets with the man in case he disappears again.

“You seem happy.” Robert says observantly. He actually smiles at that, despite his miserable expression. He always wanted Aaron to be happy. It was all he wanted. “You’ve finally accepted yourself.” 

“It wasn’t easy.” Aaron admits, perching on the edge of his bed as Robert does the same. “But yeah. Jackson helped me, made me realise there was nothing to be afraid of.” 

“I wish you’d been there though.” He continues. Robert looks away then, his dirty blond hair seemingly dirtier than it had been previously as Aaron observes it. He’d tried to wash the dirt out once and it’d worked, but when Robert appeared the next day all of the dirt had returned, so Aaron decided to accept it for what it was. 

“I was there. You just couldn’t see me.” Rob tells him, still looking away, deep in remembrance. “After we…I didn’t want you to get attached to me so I became invisible. Looks like it didn’t do much. I can see it in your eyes.” He looks at Aaron then, who looks back at him with utter desperation.

“I love you.” The younger man confesses, grabbing Robert’s hand. The older man stands up and pulls his hand away, walking to the corner of the room to gain as much distance as possible. “Jackson’s a nice guy.” 

“Yeah and I fancy him, but he’s not you.” Aaron’s tone almost sounds like a plead. “I know you feel the same.”

“I’m not real, Aaron. I couldn’t feel even if I wanted to. I’m numb. I’m a figment of your imagination for God’s sake.” 

“I don’t care!” Aaron shouts, gradually moving closer to the corner where Rob’s standing. Robert shakes his head, inwardly begging him to not come any closer because he knows he won’t be able to control himself. Aaron leans forward and it’s a magnet Robert can’t bring himself to repel any longer. He flies forward and kisses Aaron roughly, sliding his tongue into the younger man’s mouth, the void in his stomach finally filling after two years of being empty. 

Later that night, when Aaron’s fast asleep with his limbs tangled with Robert’s, Rob strokes his hair softly whilst holding back the tears. “I’m sorry.” He mutters, half to the sleeping boy and half to himself. “I promised myself I wouldn’t do this again. I know what it’ll do to you. I know it’ll tear you apart. Jackson's good for you. Don’t throw him away. Not for me.” 

He leans over and presses a lingering kiss to Aaron’s cheek, one of his tears dripping down onto the younger man’s nose causing him to stir. Robert knows that's his cue and he fades into invisibility before Aaron can come round. When he realises he’s alone again, Aaron knows what it means. He doesn’t expect Robert to come back. He doesn't. 

-

Tears trickle down his cheeks and onto the arm he’s holding out in front of him. Aaron twirls the razor blade with the fingers on his other hand, eyeing it carefully. Jackson’s gone and it feels like his world’s ending, but the thing is, he feels nothing at all. Emptiness. The only thing that can remind him he's human is the feeling of the metal across his skin. 

“Robert -” He calls out, fluttering his eyelids shut as he tries to conjure the man up even though he knows that won’t work, it never works. 

“Robert I know you’re there. I know you’re invisible or inside my mind or whatever. I know I’m too old to have an imaginary friend but I really, really need you right now so please just come.” 

It takes every ounce of strength inside his body to not give in to the younger man's pleas. His fists are clenched along with his jaw as he shakes, fighting his gut instinct to appear and hold Aaron in his arms. He can’t do it. It’d only hurt him even more. Robert watches as Aaron uses the blade and it's devastating to witness, but he can’t do anything so he just watches, praying to a non-existent God that his love’s pain will eventually go away. 


	2. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaron returns to Emmerdale after being away for three years and he makes a shocking discovery about his old imaginary friend.

**\- Age 23 -**  


He can’t believe he’s actually moving back in with his mum after all this time. He thought France would be his life from then on after he’d moved there with Ed, never once had he imagined setting foot in Emmerdale ever again, let alone walking into the pub with his bags and possessions. A lot of his stuff is actually in his old room still, but it’s probably covered in a layer of dust after being abandoned for all of three years. A distant memory.

Aaron hadn’t heard of Diane until he’d arrived back in the village. His mum had told him that her and her family lived in the pub before it was refurbished and then had to move out of Emmerdale, never returning until now. Aaron finds it a little odd how the Sugdens are moving back, but when he meets Diane she seems nice enough, albeit slightly wary of him and the fact he takes the first bedroom on the left.

With Diane is Victoria, her step-daughter, who seems a lot more displeased about their return. She’s always wide-eyed and frightened, as if an inexplicable trauma has damaged her permanently. She’s thirty-two but still resembles a young girl, which Aaron doesn’t quite understand either. Weird family.

Over a celebratory **welcome back Aaron** dinner, he takes the opportunity to inquire about their life. “So, Diane and Vic, where did you go after you left the village?”

They look at each other for a moment before Diane begins. “We had to move quickly and so went down south, grabbed the cheapest place we could find and set up there. We lost all of our things after the fire, see, so we didn’t need much space -”

“Fire?” Aaron repeats suddenly, knitting his brows. Chas' never mentioned anything about a fire, but his mind randomly wanders back to the first time he noticed his bedroom ceiling, the black marks finally beginning to make sense. Diane nods, confirming it.

“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking,” He asks. “How did it start?”

Diane opens her mouth to explain but Victoria beats her to it. “My brother started it. We don’t know why...never got the chance to ask him, did we?” She suddenly grows emotional and her eyes begin to well up so she gets up from the table to grab a nearby tissue, holding it to her lower lash-line in order to prevent her mascara from smudging down her face.

“Sorry,” Aaron mutters. “Didn’t mean to bring back any bad memories.” 

“It’s alright.” Vic assures him, continuing. “I don’t even know how he got it to spread that fast, but one minute we were eating dinner and the next thing we knew the whole place had gone up.” 

Chas quietly comments about how awful it sounds and how scared they must've been, but Aaron seems oddly intrigued and presses for more. “How many of you were in the house?” 

“Four of us. We were all eating except Rob, who was clearly busy starting it off.” 

Aaron freezes at the mention of the name, his heart rate increasing rapidly within seconds. Surely it’s just a coincidence. “Did you say Rob?” He doesn’t know why he’s asking. It’s a coincidence.

“Yeah,” Vic says, disconcerted at Aaron’s sudden interest. “My brother, Robert. He was the one who started the fire.” 

Aaron blinks. It’s a coincidence. “Do you have a picture by any chance?”

“Why do you care so much?” Vic suddenly snaps.

“Victoria,” Diane scolds, nudging her forcefully before turning to Aaron. “We lost most of our things after the fire, but I did manage to save a few before I got out, hold on.” 

She reaches down into her bag and retrieves a number of small photographs. She slowly goes through each one, reminiscing about each of them before she gets to the one she wants. She stares at it sadly, showing Vic, who begins to cry when she looks. “I miss him so much.” She sniffs, biting her lip to stop the tears from forming though it doesn't work.

When Diane hands Aaron the picture, he stares at it in complete disbelief as his stomach drops ten feet. Blond hair, except it's not dirty in the picture like it usually is. Those same blue eyes and those same lips Aaron hasn’t forgotten the feel of. A tear slips down his cheek and he wipes it away quickly, though not quick enough for those at the table not to notice. “What’s wrong, pet?” Diane asks. She looks frightened, as if she knows what’s going through Aaron’s head even though she can’t possibly understand. 

He gets up from the table whilst holding up the photograph. “I’ll be back in a minute, I’m just gonna borrow this, bear with me.” He disappears up the stairs and storms into his old bedroom, kicking the door open and looking around as if he expects Robert to be there, but he isn’t. Because he’s invisible. Because he’s a **ghost**.

“What the hell is this?” Aaron shouts, holding up the photo so Robert can see it from wherever he is. There’s a gust of wind behind Aaron then, and he turns around to see the older man standing there, staring bewildered at the photograph of himself.

“Where did you get that?” He asks, moving forward and snatching it out of Aaron’s hand. He looks at it sadly, tracing the edges of the old paper as he stares into the eyes of the human he once was.

“Answer my question, _mate_.” He growls the last part of the demand, emphasising his anger at the lie he’d been fed for the past nine years. He knew he was too old to have an imaginary friend.

“You’d have freaked out if I’d straight up told you the truth. Kids believe anything you tell them, I knew that from living with Victoria all those years. It was better to tell you I was your own imagination so that you wouldn’t be scared of me.” 

“And when I got older?” 

Robert’s gaze moves from the photograph to Aaron’s face. He observes him, admiring the man he’s become. He’s changed, but that was a given seeing as he’s been gone for however many years. It killed Rob when he left, the silence of the room almost too much to bear. It felt like burning to death a hundred times over, living without Aaron. “I barely saw you then.”

“And who’s fault’s that, eh?”

“It was for the best.” 

“For who exactly?” Aaron spits, his words indicating bitterness but his eyes indicating desperation. He’s desperate for answers, the answers he was never given every single time he sat in his room begging for Robert to come back, begging for the comfort he so desperately needed in those times when he wanted to end it all. There would've been something so beautifully tragic about Aaron killing himself in the same room Robert died in. Maybe he would’ve done it if he’d have known the backstory. 

“That would have worked out well for you, wouldn’t it? Guess what, mum? I’ve fallen in love with a _ghost_.” 

Aaron scoffs, his head falling back so his eyes connect with the blackened ceiling. Robert watches as he stares at the marks, anxious at what’s inevitably coming next.

“Tell me what happened.” There it is. Robert sighs in immediate defeat, sitting himself cross-legged on the bed and gesturing for Aaron to do the same, which he does. Robert takes a deep breath. He at least owes Aaron some answers.

“I was miserable. The least favourite child, a failure, living at home at almost thirty years old. That was all bad enough, but it wasn’t what tipped me over the edge. I couldn’t accept myself, I was terrified and ashamed of who I was and I knew everyone would hate me as much as I hated myself for it."

“You killed yourself because you were gay?” 

Robert scoffs. “I wasn't gay. I didn't know what I was, could never place a label on it, that was one of the reasons it angered me so much. I hated it so badly that I became a bitter, self conscious villain. I hurt everyone around me time and time over until there was no resemblance of a relationship left. I ruined everything. They were all better off without me." 

Aaron remains silent as he watches Robert go through all of those emotions all over again. It makes so much sense now, why Robert was so understanding of Aaron and was so insistent on making sure he never felt like he wasn't loved or ashamed of who he was. Because he’d been there himself and it’d literally killed him. 

“I was drunk and took some random pills from the cabinet, didn’t even know what they were. I set fire to my bedroom, trapping myself inside. Didn’t even think about the fact that they were in the house as well. I didn’t contemplate them getting hurt, so when I heard Victoria screaming for help outside my door I tried so hard to get out to help her, but I just couldn’t escape.”

“There was fire all around me, orange and black filling my senses, clogging my lungs. I was lucky to die from the poison of the fumes instead of burning to death. I woke up and the room was black, just rubble. I thought I’d survived it somehow. I tried to walk out of the room but an invisible force just wouldn’t let me no matter how much I pushed. That’s when I realised I was dead and I was stuck. I got used to it after a while, spent most of my time watching people out of the window. Then they refurbished it and I assumed someone else would move in, giving me someone else to watch and attach myself to so I could forget about being dead for a while. Then a fourteen year old prat walked in and now I’m here, explaining to him nine years later that I’m not actually his imaginary mate." 

Aaron can’t help but smile, feeling nostalgic over their first meeting. He’d been so young then, a completely different person to who he is now. Robert’s exactly the same though, except he seems ten times more beautiful now that Aaron’s twenty-three and the age gap doesn’t seem so weird. Robert admires his face, the new stubble across his chin and the increase in hair on his head. He looks good, better than he used to. He’s older now, finally grown up. “Got a boyfriend?” Rob asks, genuinely interested. Aaron shakes his head.

“Had a couple but they were idiots. Not a patch on my invisible mate.” He nudges Robert playfully, causing the pair of them to laugh. 

“I missed you.” Aaron confesses, turning his body towards Robert’s a bit more. Robert smiles at him sadly. “I missed this.” He replies. 

Aaron wraps his arms around Robert’s neck then, and the older man lets him do it because it’s been far too long for him to be able to control himself anymore. They hold each other closely, their temperature differences merging together to create a pleasant lukewarm as they bask in the moment. 

Robert kisses Aaron softly, cupping his cheek and stroking at the stubble with his little finger, his stomach fluttering as he feels it tickle at his skin. “I still love you.” Aaron breathes into Rob’s mouth as he melts into the kiss. Robert slows the kiss even more, filling it with as much passion as he can muster before he has to pull away. “I have to go.” 

Aaron frowns then. “What for? I’m moving back in here, you don’t have to go anywhere.” 

Robert strokes the back of Aaron’s hand with his thumb, sadness casting over him once again. “You can’t hang onto someone who isn’t really here, Aaron. You can’t stop living your life for someone who doesn’t even have one.” 

Aaron doesn’t say anything because he knows the older man’s right. He needs to move on and live, even if it means letting go. The thought of joining Robert in the room for all eternity does cross his mind, but he dismisses it straight away because it’s not what he wants, not really. “I don’t think I can say goodbye.” 

Robert kisses him again on the lips, on the neck and on the cheek, scattering small kisses all across his face. “Then let me say it for you.” He whispers, pulling Aaron closely and connecting their lips one last time. 

It’s passionate and rough, as though it’s about to lead to sex like it had done those few times before. Aaron gets so into it that he forgets it’s a goodbye, so when he opens his eyes to an empty room, it comes as a larger shock to him than it should have. 

Nowadays, whenever Aaron’s in his room by himself, he chatters away as if he’s joined by someone and more often than not, he'll feel that same lukewarm sensation on his skin, letting him know that even though he can't see him, he's definitely still being haunted by that same blond ghost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who reads this and everyone who takes the time to leave kudos and comments it honestly means so much and makes me so happy that you like it. THANK YOU. 
> 
> I love ghost Robert so much I might have to make some ghost Robert merchandise or something...


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